Sweet Corn Bisque with Street Corn Toppings (Vegan w/options)

This customizable sweet corn bisque is the perfect blank canvas. Unadulterated, it tastes purely of sweet corn with a velvety smooth texture. A charred Street Corn topping gives it smoke and spice and can be customized with vegan, dairy or bacon options. Eat it hot on a cool day or cool on a hot day, either way!

Prep Time30

Cook Time1

Roast Corn12

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American, European-inspired

Keyword: street corn toppings, sweet corn bisque

Servings:

Calories: 267kcal

Author: Kathy Marshall

Equipment

1 3 qt dutch oven sub other soup pot

Ingredients

Bisque Ingredients

3 ears fresh corn see notes
4 cloves garlic, sliced small-average size (or 1 elephant sized clove)
1.5 cubes vegetable bouillon or boxed broth- use half strength- see notes

Street Corn Topping Ingredients

2 ears fresh corn
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dried cilantro or fresh, finely chopped
1 tsp chili pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika make sure to use smoked
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp sea salt

Other Toppings (includes vegan, vegetarian and omnivore options)

2 jalapenos red or green, or other spicy red pepper
2 limes
4 oz feta cheese vegan or dairy
1 bunch cilantro
4 oz sour cream vegan or dairy
crumbled bacon

Instructions

Make Corn Broth/Bisque

Cut kernels from 3 ears of corn by holding each ear vertically inside the pot and using a small paring knife to safely cut the kernels off all sides of the cob. Snap each cob in after after stripping it and place in pot with kernels. Add bouillon cubes and sliced garlic, cover with 6 cups water and bring to a boil with cover on. Simmer for 60 minutes or less (see notes).

Make Street Corn Topping

Preheat oven on broil, with top rack 4-6" from broiler (2nd rung down, likely).
Cut kernels from two ears of corn and place on sheet pan (don't use parchment since you will use broiler). Toss with the 2 tsp olive oil and add the dried or fresh cilantro, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, and salt. Mix spices even through the kernels. Feel free to add these cobs to the broth as well.
Clean the jalapenos, cut in half and de-rib and de-seed. Place on sheet pan with corn kernels.
Place sheet pan into preheated oven to broil for approximately 12 min. Watch closely throughout. No need to toss. Don't over cook, or they will get chewy. Broil just enough to retain some moisture but for many of the kernels to develop a deeper color and a few to char.

Puree the Bisque (yields 5-6 cups total)

Remove the corn cobs from the finished broth. I use tongs, and use a paring knife to quickly scrape any extra corn bits from the cobs into the broth, before discarding the cobs.
Pour the broth w/the kernels into a high speed blender. Leave the center piece out of the lid, and hold a dish towel over the top, while pureeing the soup, which allows steam to escape and prevents the hot soup from spurting up. Start slowly, and increase to top speed for about 20-30 seconds. Alternatively, based on your timing, you can wait for the broth to cool before pureeing and then reheat when you want to serve it.
Pour the pureed soup through a metal seive strainer back into the dutch oven. Swirl the strainer/seive until all the liquid passes through. Depending on your corn, there may be enough fiberous material left in strainer to move around a bit with a spoon, just to be sure all the liquid has passed. It varies.

Finish the Bisque

Taste the bisque for seasoning and add salt or pepper to taste. It should taste velvety and purely of corn. So good.
Serve the bisque and top with 1/4-1/3 cup of the roasted street corn.
Top with vegan feta and/or vegan sour cream (or dairy versions, and/or crumbled bacon if you are an omnivore.
Other toppings to place over the street corn are the roasted jalapenos, chopped, chopped fresh cilantro, sprinkles of the spices, squeezes of lime juice.

Notes

Fresh Corn- this bisque requires corn on the cob, as it uses both the kernels and the cob to make the broth and bisque.

Vegetable bouillon- the bouillon I used has 800 mg per cup full strength, so I used it at half strength (400 mg per cup). You can also use boxed vegetable broth (6 cups). If your sodium content is more or less than what I'm using, adjust your salt seasoning accordingly.

Cooking broth- since we are just cooking down corn, 20-30 minutes is enough time to extract flavor and break the cob flesh down (no meat to break down). But I like to leave it for 60 min for maximal flavor extraction. I'm not sure it matters much though.

Nutrition